If you put it all together, you will have an amazing program of Scouting activities that will fill any Pack or Troop with opportunities and rich experiences.

One of the other topics that you should look at during your annual planning meeting is the Journey to Excellence (JTE) — which replaces the quality/centennial unit programs that many of us are used to. Instead of being simply Pass/Fail, you can earn Gold/Silver/Bronze levels of JTE, based on a scorecard.

The JTE scorecard can be somewhat intimidating when you first look at it, but just like the report cards and success metrics that many employees have at work, the JTE scorecard helps you set goals around Scout retention, Leader training, Activities, etc. It doesn’t take long to go through — and your commissioners want to help.

Please consider inviting one of the district’s commissioners to your planning meeting and give them perhaps 15-20 minutes to talk about the scorecard metrics. Many of the measurements are easy to accomplish, if you just know what you are looking for — nothing unorthodox or unusual, just easy measurements of the kinds of activities that your Pack/Troop is already doing. Oh, and for Troops, don’t forget to discuss the Troop’s financials during the planning meeting. Its worth up to 50 points for your JTE. 🙂